The Power

Ephesians 2:1-10

Easter, April 8, 2007

Big Idea: When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, God will exert power into your dead body.

1) We have the privilege to celebrate Easter! This reminds us that we have hope for a meaningful life. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that can give us life. We dread the opposite of life…death.

a) Most people are afraid of death. I have conducted many funerals. Obviously, the overwhelming emotion is sorrow. Death forces us away from meaningful relationships.

b) Even though the idea separation is hard what is even more frightening is being alive and feeling dead. We were created to experience life and when we don’t we become desperate. We don’t want to be walking zombie’s. Thoreau said “ Most people live lives of quiet desperation.”

c) Our symbol for death today is this lump of clay. You see all the characteristics of death in this lump of clay. Motionless. No significance. No emotions. no relationships. No value. How can this lump of clay have meaning? How can this lump of clay become alive?

d) Have you ever felt like a lump of clay? Have you felt insignificant? Have you ever felt like you lacked meaning and purpose in life? Have you ever wondered if anyone cared?

e) How can you lose that dead/zombie feeling? How can you get that alive feeling? The answer is in Ephesians 2

2) When Paul, a disciple of Jesus, wrote this letter he was not addressing any particular problem. He wrote to encourage, unite, and inform all believers of what they have “in Christ.” We will see in Eph. 2:1 that these people were walking zombies. The particular passage we are looking at today does not instruct the readers to do anything, it only states what God has does for anyone who is in Christ. Read Eph 2:1-10.

3) What happens when people try to create life outside of Christ? READ 2:1-3

a) They end up dead.

i) A spiritual, emotional, and mental death. It does affect us physically and can contribute to our death.

ii) They committed transgressions (stumble and fall and can’t get up) and sins (thinking they were going to hit the bulls eye and missed the target altogether).

iii) Why? They were influenced by the ways of the world and the ruler of the world (Satan).

(1) The influence of our world tries to make us insensitive. How much does it bother us to see people killed, tortured, abused, or act immorally? Have we been desensitized to hunger of the world, genocide, and disease?

(2) The influence of the world tells us we have the right to be happy. Fulfilled desires and passions.

(3) With God out of the picture, the world is trying to connect with our desires and passions. We are open for suggestions and options. Our worlds offers us answers all the time.

(4) But when we follow our passions and desires, it will always lead us to death. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer. James 1:14-15, The Message.

(5) Trying to find meaning in all the wrong places. How many times have we filled our life up with pursuing careers, or obtaining a bigger house, nicer cars, new hi-def tv(watch final four, the masters, movie) , nicer vacation, new clothes, people’s acceptance, or meeting a certain performance level and realize you are just as empty as you were before you achieve or acquired all these things. There’s nothing wrong in and of themselves to have or achieve these things. When you try to find life in them then you will realize sooner or later that you have spent your life climbing the wrong ladder.

iv) All of us have lived there at one time. Not just an occasional sin, we lived there. Some Xns forget that and look down their noses. NO.

b) You see this lump of clay. What can this lump of clay do to help itself? I order for this clay to have life then it must be in the hands of someone greater than itself. We are the same.

Michelle walks up

Transition: If we can’t do anything to create life, then we must turn to someone who is the giver of life.

4) What happens when we let God create life? READ - 2:4-10

a) Life gives life. Donating blood so that another can live. You put yeast in a lump of dough and it will rise. Life gives life.

b) Christ is life. He is living and active. He loves people because he created each one. He alone knows how to stop our thirst and hunger for meaning and eternal life.

c) There are two key words that exert power for life.

i) Mercy – God chooses to help us instead of giving us what we deserve.

ii) Grace – God chooses to give us what we need even though we don’t deserve it.

d) How does God give life?

i) Galatians 1:4 (NIV) 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

ii) Romans 5:6-10 (NIV) 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

iii) He raises people up with Christ and seated with Him.

(1) In essence when people are raised up they are “in Christ.”

(2) “Heavenly realms” - Conversion is a transfer from one sphere to the other, a change of lordships, and from death to life. A person has a new address, zip code, and a different culture. This new zip code is “in Christ Jesus.”....

(3) This lump of clay used to be in the earth. Dead. But now it has been raised up and put in a place where it can receive life.

e) Why did God do this?

i) To demonstrate to the world the incomparable riches of His grace. The only place we can get this grace is in Jesus Christ. God wants the world to know what a great and awesome God we serve. He wants the world to know that He wants to give life to everyone.[1]

ii) What is God giving away? It was a gift of life (2:8).

f) God can only give us this gift of life when we put our Faith in Christ.

i) Faith does not require prequalification. Faith means you consider Christ reliable; he will stand behind his promises, he is trustworthy, and you are confident he will do whatever he said he will do. Faith is relationship. Faith has an adhesive quality to it.

ii) We can’t work for our salvation. It’s a gift. “Works” refers to any human condition or accomplishment by which one thinks to gain status or privilege before God. We do not contribute to our rebirth any more than we did to our natural birth.

iii) We can’t afford it. Nothing we have done disqualifies us for the gift. God in his mercy and grace offers us this gift. The gift is a life that is bound to Jesus Christ.

iv) “Salvation does not come from believing ideas or an emotional decision, but from being bound to Christ. When we put our faith in Christ something happens. Our life begins to take shape, have meaning, and becomes a part of a greater world.

g) God wants to make us into a masterpiece to do good works which he has prepared in advance for us to do. (2:10)

i) We are literally a new creation that is to active and productive. We are no longer dead but living. God is taking care of us so that we can now help others.

ii) Jeremiah 18:1-6 - This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. 5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

iii) Michelle is taking this lump of clay and giving it life. It is no longer a lump of clay. It will be shaped into something that will have meaning and significance.

h) What if we put our lives into the hands of the Great Potter, God? What would mean to our lives, our relationships, our jobs, or our families? Can you imagine God pumping life into everyone of our lives making this world a vibrant, living place? This is what God wants to give each of us.

5) Suggestions

a) Do a self analysis. List all the areas of your life and ask yourself, “Under which sphere of influence am I living?

b) Pray this simple prayer every day for 6 months. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”/ (Galatians 2:20-21)[2] /Talk to God. Walk with Jesus.

c) Please share your stories with me.

Let’s pray. Our Father in heaven you created each one of us. As a parent Father, I want my kids to have the best life. If I desire that for my children I can’t imagine the life you want for us. Even though we can’t get away from the influence of the world, help us to strive to live everyday in Christ. As believers, we have been crucified with Christ and we no longer live, but Christ lives in us. The life we now live in the body, we live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

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[1] When we hear about Warren Buffett giving 31 Billion to the Gates foundation we are in awe because he is sharing his wealth. He was giving the incomparable riches of his wealth.

The Gates foundation gave away 1.35 billion dollars last year. I would call this sharing their incomparable riches of their grace.

[2]The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984), Ga 2:20.

The Power - 4-8-07